The purpose of this research is to examine issues surrounding the subject of patriarchy in Asian cultures. The plan of the research will be to set forth the sociological context in which patriarchal values appear to surface in such cultures, and then to discuss the implications of socially based sex roles that demonstrate patterns of male dominance on one hand, or outright misogyny on the other.
In recent years there appears to have been an increase of interest in the status and changeability of social roles of both men and women in all cultures. Research into socially determined sex roles of Asians both inside and outside Asia has been a part of this increase. By and large, research studies appear to indicate that traditional patterns of social behavior persist where sex roles are concerned.
Indeed, there is evidence that, despite certain shifts in the public perception of men and women in society, the establishment of conventional sex roles in Asian cultures begins almost from infancy and continues into old age. Sakata (1991) reports that Japanese two-year-olds acquire an embedded understanding of inflections and references in the Japanese language that designate traditional sex roles, and that they are sensitive to male or female "particles" in their speech patterns. Sex differences are so effectively "encoded" (p. 120) that male children are taught to use male particles by mothers, while females are taught to use female particles. According to Sakata, the encoding of the language has the effect of transmitting information about appropriate social behavior; further, the cognitive development of the children who acquire the language points in the direction of behavior that is based on sex roles.
The popular culture in Japan reinforces highly traditional sex-role-based behavior, according to Rolandelli (1991). His analysis of children's programs available on Japanese television led to the conclusion that male charac...